


Spread Your Wings

by the_witching_hours



Series: Spread Your Wings [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-03
Updated: 2018-09-26
Packaged: 2018-12-10 18:54:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11697807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_witching_hours/pseuds/the_witching_hours
Summary: Reader is a HYDRA experiment (like the Maximoffs, but not voluntary) who grows wings (like Angel from X-Men). She escapes (escape covered in Prologue) and is now trying to rescue and prevent further kidnappings and experiments.





	1. Prologue: Escape from Nazi Mountain

**Author's Note:**

> Y/N: Your Name  
> I used Google Translate for the Portuguese in later chapters, I apologize for any misinterpretations...

HYDRA generally didn’t keep much security around you during your rest periods; after all you’d been in their care for so long, and never tried to escape, the scientists and guards alike had become complacent. All you had to do was make the scientists believe that their latest round of tests had been more intense than they’d expected, then they left you alone, in your cell. Picking the lock hadn’t even been difficult, then again, HYDRA had been training you for missions, lock picking was covered; they essentially gave you all the tools you’d need to escape. You took those tools, learned how to use them efficiently, and made your escape. But you didn’t leave right away, not before you gained all of the information you could. A quick change in your hair and eyes, and a stolen lab coat over your now hidden wings and you were free to move about.

It had taken some fumbling, but you’d found a computer and searched for all of the information you could; at first, just your own case, you only knew your subject number, but you would know your name soon enough. After finding, and printing your documents, you realized that there was much more information to be had; you searched for a portable hard drive, a jump drive, anything you could use to carry as much information as you could. Finding a suitable drive and exiting the room, you adjusted your hair again and quick stepped to what you hoped was the exit.

It was only as you made it out the door into the snow covered landscape that your disappearance was noticed. Dropping your disguise, but keeping your wings hidden you ran for the ledge in front of you. Glancing over your shoulder and seeing no one yet, you grinned as you reached the ledge and lept off. Releasing your wings, feeling a strong upsurge of air batting against your feathers and lifting you into the sky, your grin broadened. Clutching your stolen information and rising steadily, tears began to fall from your eyes. Freedom.


	2. The Hunt

It was the pain that woke you; the burning sensation causing you to cry out. It always took a moment for you to remember that you were safe upon waking; that the pain you were feeling wasn't the result of being tortured anymore. 

This was the routine now; you would wake covered in sweat, your back burning and a scream trapped in your throat. The nightmares had become so common, but so vivid that you almost couldn't tell what was real,  _ almost _ . After a few minutes of deep breathing, you could remember that you were free and that your nightmares were just a result of traumatic memories. 

HYDRA had really fucked with your brain and it would take some time before you could sleep soundly. But you knew you'd get there eventually, the trip would just suck. 

You had been a normal child, until you turned 6; the year your mutation developed. Your parents had no clue how to deal with a mutant child, especially not one with such an  _ obvious _ physical difference. Their devout and extreme religious beliefs had them looking at you like a monster, a demon; something unholy. After 6 years, your parents abandoned you. You liked to tell yourself that they hoped the scientists would be able to rid you of your mutation, and then they would have taken you back. But in all likelihood, they had just dumped you when you were no longer a perfect child. 

A sense of optimism or hope was near impossible to hold in captivity, and even more so when captivity became torture and scientific testing. You were never sure if your parents had left you with HYDRA to begin with or if you were moved there, but most of your life had been with them. If you could call it a  _ life _ that is. 

But you had escaped in one piece. You even had some small mementos to remember your time in the lab. 

The first being the chip in your brain. This chip enabled you to monitor radio and cell traffic, and it gave you the ability to control some technology. It was like a tiny computer in your brain. It popped up a display in your vision and let you control electrical devices from a distance. Downside? It would give you monster seizures from time to time; they were completely debilitating, and usually caused you to pass out for several minutes. HYDRA didn’t care as long as you got the job done, so they had neglected to address that issue.

The second wasn’t nearly so complicated. HYDRA had gotten their Nazi mitt’s on another mutant’s DNA. This mutant had the power to completely change their physical appearance, and HYDRA had decided that, on top of everything else you already had, you needed that mutation too. So you had been subjected to several very painful injections. Their experiments worked, up to a point. You weren’t able to change completely, but you could change your hair and eye color. And it gave you the ability to hide your original mutation; your wings.

Stretching out of your shoulder blades were two, huge, feather-covered wings. When fully spread they were almost 14 feet wide wingtip to wingtip, and when folded, the uppermost curves reached just over your head. They were downy soft, and pretty heavy, but whatever HYDRA had done to you had altered your musculature so much, that you could bear the weight, and flew evenly and for longer distances than their researchers had thought possible. They were a soft, cloudy, gray at the top of the curve that faded into a pure white at the ends of the primaries and secondaries. The feathers felt warm to your touch and seemed to be almost completely water repellent, they could endure hours of flight. But wings were pretty inconvenient at times. Like in a fight. You’d had to sit and “preen” several times after a fight; pulling damaged feathers out and leaving gaps that would have to grow back in before you could fly easily again.

The information you had gotten, along with your chip, let you intercept HYDRA when they came for their next subject. HYDRA had taken to searching for other children now that you were gone, in the hopes of recreating their success. You tried not to use the chip any more than necessary, not wanting to risk the seizures, but also out of fear that HYDRA could track it somehow.

The kids you protected usually went back to their parents, who you pressed to move and hide better, but sometimes the kids were more like you. Sometimes the kids had been abandoned, or were street kids, those kids you had to find safe homes for. Usually, these kids went to a contact in England, who had a school specifically for mutant kids. You loved that school, and the Professor who ran it was a great friend, but that wasn’t always an option. You didn’t like contacting S.H.I.E.L.D, especially not after their most recent HYDRA problem, but you had a few people there you trusted. Okay, only three people.

The kid you were trying to find now was like you; he’d been left to die by blood relations who didn’t want him. And now, HYDRA was closing in on him. 

\-----------

It was twilight, the perfect time to fly; people were unlikely to see you, and if they happened to, they would write the sight off as a trick of the fading light. You swooped over the low rooftops below, searching. HYDRA was in the area, so the kid was close. You had to find him first or else you would never be able to get him out of their clutches if they caught him. 

The houses in this part of the city were small and tightly packed; piled on top of one another they created thousands of small hiding places. Hopefully the little boy you were searching for knew a few places, otherwise… well his chances weren’t good.

You spotted one of the HYDRA soldiers below you. Before he could see you, you quickly dropped to a rooftop out of his line of sight. The moment your feet touched the surface, you focused on hiding your wings, and then on changing your hair and skin color slightly; just enough to blend in better with the people living in the city. The hunt was on.


	3. Not Quite as Planned

On the ground, you lost your advantage, which meant you had to work harder to beat the numbers HYDRA pitted against you. And you would, every time, if it meant a little kid avoided experimentation. It killed you every time you failed, though it rarely happened, you couldn’t win every time, not on your own. But you still tried. 

“Call up city map,” you quietly ordered your chip, it immediately complied and a city grid map overlaid your vision in your right eye. Scanning the available exits and entrances to the city, you found three possible locations for HYDRA’s extraction team.

“Show mutant DNA sources.” You crossed your fingers. Sure, the chip was capable of doing what you requested, but you were in a densely populated city, there could be hundreds, possibly thousands of mutants within its limits. 

When pins showed up on your map, you located yourself first, and then the group of HYDRA  operatives. The group was no longer directly below you, but still nearby. Keeping their location in mind, you sifted through the remaining pins, working from the closests to your location out to the city limits. 5 possibles that were similar size, alone, and not moving.

The first was two buildings over to your left, but when you peeked in, you found a small, older woman, fast asleep in her room; “ _ next.” _

It wasn’t until the fourth possibility that you found who you were looking for. The boy was cowering in a tiny space between the overhang of two collapsing roofs. When you stepped into his field of vision, he shrank back, silent, eyes wide.

“Não estou aqui para te machucar,”(I’m not here to hurt you) you kept your voice even and calm, and held your hands up and slightly away from your body.

The boy raised his head from his knees and squeaked out, “Quem é Você? O que você quer?” (Who are you? What do you want?) His voice shook, but he was trying to sound brave.

You knelt down slowly, making yourself smaller, less threatening. “Eu sou como você. Eu sei que há gente perseguindo você, eles também me perseguiram, mas eu posso ajudá-lo se você me deixar.” (I'm like you. I know there are people chasing you, they chased me too, but I can help you if you let me).

“Você gosta de mim?” (You're like me?) he perked up a little. You guessed he hadn’t met many other mutants, at least none with physical mutations like you both had. You nodded and smiled a little. 

“Você quer que eu mostre você?” (Do you want me to show you?)

The boy nodded. You checked to make sure the group of HYDRA insurgents was out of sight, then let your wings out. They opened up behind you, blocking all but a sliver of the light that fell across the boy’s face. That sliver fell directly over one of his reptilian, slitted eyes. You didn’t flinch or look away from his gaze when you met it. Yeah, his eyes were creepy, but this was a little kid; he shouldn’t be treated with fear or contempt because of how his eyes looked, and you were sure he’d had nothing  _ but _ fear and contempt since his eyes mutated.

He crawled out of his hiding place, looking from your wings to your face, then back to your wings. He reached out his hand, but retracted it before looking at your face again.

“P- posso tocar em eles?” (C-can I touch them?)

“Claro,” (of course), you responded, nodding slightly.

The boy brushed your feathers softly, then a bit more firmly, a small smile spreading across his face.

“Eu pensei que estava sozinho,” (I thought I was alone) he stepped closer to you, looking up into your face, tears welling in his eyes. This was a kid, he couldn’t be more than 7 years old, and he was scared and alone. He’d been tossed out by his family and now a bunch of HYDRA goons were chasing him; you were shocked he hadn’t been crying this whole time.

But before you could offer him any comfort, gun fire sounded below the building you were currently standing atop. The little boy seemed to shrink in on himself and without thinking, you closed the distance between the two of you and wrapped your arms around him, closing your wings around the both of you like a shield.

“Não tenha medo,” (Don’t be afraid), you spoke softly into his ear, “Se você me deixar, eu posso te tirar daqui. Eu conheço um lugar seguro, com muitas pessoas como nós.” (If you let me, I can get you out of here. I know somewhere safe, with lots of people like us). You lightly rubbed his back, trying to soothe him.

“Você vai me deixar ajudá-lo?” (Will you let me help you?). The boy nodded just as you heard voices approach the building; voices that spoke in English, not Portuguese, and not Russian.

“I don’t know what they’re after, but knowing HYDRA, nothing good”. A woman’s voice. Eastern European accent.

“What I wanna know is why did we run into two separate teams, and why the second team seemed so surprised to see us. They weren’t even looking around at ground level, what did they expect to see in the sky?” A man’s voice. American accent.

_ “No,”  _  you thought, “ _ they weren’t expecting you, they were watching for me…”  _ You tucked your wings away then.

“Show mutants within 1 mile of current location,” you ordered your chip, it flashed the requested data across your vision. The HYDRA team was two buildings back from you, but there was a new mutant coming at your building from the opposite side. It was a woman, you would guess she was the voice you had just heard, which meant she wasn’t alone.

“Show heat signatures within 2 building radius of current location.”

The building below you was completely empty of people; the two groups and yourselves were the only heat signatures. The HYDRA team was down to 5 mutants of their original 8, the opposing team consisted of 5 as well, but only one mutant, although two of the members showed some DNA modification, not quite enough to be mutants, but not entirely human anymore.

“O que está acontecendo?” (What’s happening?) the boy asked, his voice tight and quiet.

“Os bandidos estão por perto. Eles não nos entenderão. Só precisamos esperar,” (The bad guys are close by. They won't get us though. We just need to wait) you explained, hoping you sounded calm and reasonable, “qual o seu nome?”(What’s your name?).

“Tomas,” he answered, still quiet, but a little less shaky.

“Meu nome é Y/N.  É um prazer te conhecer Tomas,” (My name is Y/N It's nice to meet you Tomas) you said, smiling down at him.

That’s when the bullets started hitting the roof behind you.

Without really thinking, you picked up Tomas and began to run; jumping gaps and raised roofs as you tried to put space between yourself and HYDRA.

One of their number gave chase. Normally you would have been able to outrun them no problem, but with Tomas in your arms, the agent was gaining on you.

“Mantenha-se apertado, ok?” (Hold on tight, ok?) Tomas nodded, wrapping his arms firmly around your neck as you released your wings again and took off at a steep incline.

Not steep enough apparently, you felt several bullets hit your right wing and you fell. You backbeat your wings, even though they screamed in pain, in an attempt to soften your fall, your knees buckled and you rolled with Tomas clutched to your chest so that he didn’t take any of the impact. Heavy, booted steps stomped towards the alley you’d fallen into, and you pressed Tomas behind you. Your heart raced and cold sweat beaded on your skin. You could still get Tomas out of here, but you’d been hoping to avoid a fight, and now you were already bleeding.

If it came down to it, you would give yourself up so Tomas could go free; a prospect you didn’t fancy, but your life for a child’s? You would take that without hesitation.

By the time the two HYDRA agents reached the alley, your fists were clenched and shaking; fear, desperation, and anger were flooding your system with adrenaline. But as they started to enter the alley, they both froze and fell to the ground, their bodies convulsing. Your chip read electrical currents in both of their bodies; they’d been tased? A moment later, a red-haired woman came into view.

“I don’t know why you guys are complaining. They aren’t that hard to take out. Oh, hello…” the woman looked up from the bodies and saw you, a winged woman, bleeding, with your body set in a fighting stance.

“Who the hell are you?” you demanded. 

The woman did not enter the alley, but she didn’t back away either.

“Depends on who you ask, and what day. Who do you want me to be?”

“A woman who’ll answer my questions,” you replied, almost on a growl.

“How ‘bout this? I’ll answer your questions if you answer mine.”

You narrowed your eyes, “I asked first.”

The two of you stayed in place, neither even twitching, until a man came around the corner. He was tall, and muscular, with a mop of unkempt brown hair, but all you noticed was the glint of metal where his left arm should have been. 

The Winter Soldier. HYDRA.

Ignoring the pain in your wing, you stepped back, your body pressed into Tomas, and dropped your wings so that he was completely hidden from sight. He whimpered quietly and you felt his hands grasp at the back of your shirt, balling it in his fists. 

“Nat, what’s taking so long? Steve’s gonna-” he cut off as he caught sight of you, getting the same image “Nat” had; winged woman, bleeding, ready to fight. But now, you had a snarl on your face too.

“Well I think it’s safe to say she recognizes you Barnes. She wasn’t snarling at  _ me _ .” She stepped in front of the soldier and addressed you again, “He’s not HYDRA anymore.”

“Bullshit,” you spat, still staring at him over her shoulder, “HYDRA fucking  _ created  _ him.”

“Like they created you.”

You took an involuntary step back at the soldier’s comment, nearly knocking Tomas over before he stepped back as well, “You know me?”

“No. I heard about you though,” the soldier clarified.

“They didn’t  _ create _ me.”

“They fucked with you though?” the woman asked, voice softened marginally. You didn’t confirm, but you looked away.

“Look, we cleared out the assault team, you can-”

“They weren’t an assault team,” you said, looking at the soldier, “they were retrival.”

“After you?”

“Who are you people?” You weren’t going any farther if you didn’t get some answers.

“My name is Natalia Alianova Romanova, but I’ve been called many things. Most frequently: Natasha Romanoff, and Black Widow.”

Your shoulders dropped and you felt air rush into your lungs as the majority of your panic subsided quickly.

“Natasha? We’ve met, well, we’ve talked before. I’m Y/N Y/L/N.”

Recognition lit her face a moment before it fell again, “Who were you protecting?”

Now knowing that it was the Avengers you were dealing with, you could be more open, especially with Natasha Romanoff. Natasha was one of the extremely few people at SHIELD who you trusted with your charges. 

“I  _ am _ protecting a little boy,” you corrected, “and I’ll let you see him if I know he’ll be safe with you.” You looked back and forth between Natasha and the soldier. 

Natasha nodded before putting a hand to her ear and speaking into an earpiece, “Stark, you and Cap better get over here.”

You considered tapping the com feed; it would have been easy, but also rude. And you needed these guys to like you at least a little, so you decided not to piss them off.

Moments later, Iron Man and Captain America were in the alley as well as another man, and a woman you recognized as Wanda Maximoff. The two of you had crossed paths once or twice while you’d been under HYDRA’s thumb. Looked like the Avengers were collecting HYDRA refugees.

“So who’s the angel then?” Iron Man snarked as the mask retracted from his face. You rolled your eyes, hiding a flinch at the nickname, and Natasha explained how she knew you.

“Another HYDRA lab rat huh?” he cocked an eyebrow and smirked at you. You were pretty sure he meant that to be lighthearted, but he fell short, really short.

“Not a willing one,” you replied with a glare, “I’m just here tryin’ to keep them from doing that sick shit to other kids. Natasha has helped me rehome some of my charges in the past, but I didn’t know that you all had been taking in, what did you call us? ‘HYDRA lab rats’?” Iron Man winced a little and so did the captain. Wanda and the soldier both looked at their shoes, you wondered if they had been taking that sort of crap from Iron Man for long, and you were surprised he was alive if he’d been taunting them.

“Look, I just need to know this kid will be safe.” You were losing energy fast now; between the adrenaline crash and the blood loss, you felt dizzy and drained.

So of course, that’s when the last HYDRA goon showed up. He didn’t make it far, scoring just one hit to Iron Man’s suit before Wanda took his ass out; but that one hit was a good one.

The suit started malfunctioning, and Iron Man couldn’t get it to stop, or power down. He was panicking. Then the thrusters started. The suit spun, and you caught sight of a large electrical board now stuck to the outside of the Iron Man suit; that must have been what the HYDRA idiot shot him with.

“Scan for override,” you ordered, crouching down and wrapping your wings more securely around Tomas. The chip located an entry point and you gave it the necessary code to clear the HYDRA glitch. A second later, the suit landed and the board dropped from the back of it. Iron Man stepped from the suit shaken, but unharmed. His eyes shot to you.

“How in the hell?”

“Chip in my head,” you gestured to your temple before sitting down, still in front of Tomas. And that’s all the explanation he got before your body seized and collapsed to the ground, convulsing.


	4. While You Were Sleeping

**Bucky’s POV**

As the last word left her lips, her body froze, her muscles all tensed and her eyes rolled back in her head. She collapsed on the ground, her body convulsing.

Bucky and Nat ran, Bucky moving to stabilize Y/N’s head and Nat moving to the small boy who had been revealed when Y/N fell; talking to him quietly. Wanda and Tony came to crouch by Y/N while Steve called for Sam and the rest of the team to bring the quinjet for a quick exit.

“The fuck is happening?!” Bucky asked Tony and Wanda.

“That chip in her head is malfunctioning. F.R.I.D.A.Y. says this seems like something that happens frequently.”

“It has,” Wanda confirmed quietly, “HYDRA put it there. As long as it got the job done, they didn’t care that it hurt her. She’s had these seizures multiple times.” Wanda rested her hand on Y/N’s forehead and Y/N relaxed a little.

“Assuming she even  _ wants _ to keep that thing, I can probably fix it so it doesn’t try to kill her anymore,” Tony mumbled, running his hands through his hair and over his face.

“Y/N?” a small voice called from over Bucky’s shoulder. He turned his head so he could look at the little boy’s face while still keeping his hands on Y/N. 

“Ela ficará bem?”(Will she be alright?)

“Sim, ela ficará bem. Ela é dura,” (Yes, she’ll be okay. She’s tough) Bucky answered reassuringly. When Tony gave him the okay, Bucky picked Y/N up as gently as possible, careful of her wing, and tucked her to his chest.

“Ela estava te ajudando?”(She was helping you?) At the boy’s nod, Bucky asked, “Você nos deixaria ajudá-lo agora também?” (Would you let us help you now too?). The boy didn’t answer right away, looking uncertainly to Y/N.

“Nós vamos cuidar de Y/N,” (We're going to take care of Y/N) Natasha assured, moving from behind the boy to in front of him and just slightly in front of Bucky and Y/N.

“Vamos, ela vai querer vê-lo quando ela acordar” (Come on, she'll want to see you when she wakes up) Bucky shot the kid a small smile and tilted his head towards the alley exit. The boy nodded and followed when Bucky began to walk.

As the boy closed the distance between them, Bucky got a better look at his face, and his eyes. He had snake like eyes. 

“Você consegue ver as cores? Ou é tudo diferentes tons da mesma cor?” (Can you see colors? Or is everything different shades of the same color?) Bucky asked conversationally once they were on the jet headed home.

The boy, who introduced himself as Tomas, blinked and tilted his head a bit before saying, “Não tenho certeza.” (I’m not sure).

Bucky spent the rest of the flight asking Tomas questions, and answering many in return. Tomas’ eyes fascinated Bucky as much as the Avengers and Y/N fascinated Tomas.

The plan was to take both Y/N and Tomas to the compound; no one wanted to face Y/N’s wrath if she woke up to find Tomas gone. Once Y/N was settled in medical, Bucky and Steve showed Tomas around a little. Tony asked F.R.I.D.A.Y. to watch out for him, and tweaked the language parameters so that Tomas could communicate with the AI. 

By the time Tomas was situated in a spare room with F.R.I.D.A.Y. monitoring him, Bucky was exhausted. He had forgotten how high-energy little kids could be. He was walking into Y/N’s room before he had consciously made the decision to do so, but it made sense; it would be a bad idea to let her wake up alone, in a place she didn’t know and had no memory of traveling to. Bucky settled himself into the armchair across from Y/N’s bed and dozed, until he felt the press of a scalpel at his throat.

His eyes flew open and snapped up to meet Y/N’s. She was staring at him, not angry, but confused and scared.

“Where is Tomas?”

**Y/N POV**

You pressed the scalpel harder against the soldier’s throat when he didn’t answer right away, drawing blood.

“He’s two floors down, should be asleep. Do you want to go see him?”

“How do I know you’re not lying?” The soldier met your eyes, held your gaze and lifted his hands in an appeasing gesture. 

“Do you remember what happened? When we all met?” Your heart raced; all you knew at the moment was that the Winter Soldier was in the room with you, and Tomas wasn’t.

“Natasha and I found you in an alley, your wing was bleeding. You told us about Tomas, then you met Stark and Steve. Stark got hit and his armor started to malfunction. You fixed it, and the collapsed.” As the soldier spoke, your memories pieced together; you hadn’t intended to use your chip anymore, knowing that you’d relied on it pretty heavily in order to track Tomas. But Iron Man had been hit, and you’d reacted. Sighing, you closed your eyes and lowered the scalpel.

“Sorry,” you muttered, “sometimes the seizures cause memory loss.” 

“I understand that more than most I think.” Yeah, he would wouldn’t he? Looking at him, you see the cut you made on his neck. You reached for a handful of gauze on the table beside him and press the handful to the cut. 

“Sorry,” you say again.

“‘’S all good. I’d have done the same if I were you. It’s Y/N right?” the soldier asked, brushing your hands away and pressing the gauze to his throat himself.

“Yeah. What’s yours?” It was weird not to have a name for someone. In HYDRA, you hadn’t met him, hadn’t ever had a conversation with him, so it was okay to only have a title to refer to him by. But you were more than what HYDRA made you, so he must be too; you wanted to use his real name, not what HYDRA called him.

“My name’s Bucky.”

“Bucky?” you asked; you’d never heard that name before. 

“His name’s James Buchanan Barnes, but I called him ‘Bucky’ growing up. For some reason he let me and it stuck,” Captain America said from the doorway. He was leaning against the frame with his arms crossed over his chest. You tensed, you hadn’t seen or heard him approach. Your eyes darted to him and you took a step in the opposite direction, keeping both him and Bucky in your sight. 

“Y/N, this is Steve you met him for a second before you passed out.”

“Right,” you nodded slightly, not moving from your position, but dropping your hands which had raised into fists at your sides, “sorry,” you muttered again; you were saying that a lot today.

“Nothing to be sorry about. Gotta imagine the seizures take a lot out of ya. How are you feeling now?” Steve asked, not moving except to uncross his arms.

“I’m okay, it’s like this most of the time now.”

“Now?” Bucky asked, brow furrowing.

“Yeah, it used to only happen once in awhile, but the more they made me use the damn chip, the more often I’d have an episode. I thought they were getting worse cause I escaped, but I dunno.” You shrugged then wrapped your arms around yourself. The you noticed that your wings were out; focusing on them becoming invisible caused an ache to form behind your eyes, but your wings were soon hidden.

“How do you do that?”

“What do you mean ‘worse’?” Bucky spoke over Steve. You looked back and forth between the two.

“I don’t know who to answer first…” Steve nodded in Bucky’s direction, deferring to him, so you answered Bucky first. 

“Once I left, the seizures got longer and more violent. They’ve always caused a little bit of memory loss, but that’s gotten worse too. I figured HYDRA had some sort of control over it still and were making it worse on purpose. I get headaches now, and some dizziness, but they aren’t debilitating.”

Bucky looked like he was going to ask another question, but you turned to Steve before he could.

“As far as my wings, I was born with  _ that _ mutation. HYDRA added the chameleon thing. I’m not really sure how.”

“They experimented on you.” Steve looked a mix of appalled and unbearably sad; you didn’t understand that reaction. You had gotten interest, shock and revulsion before, but never anger and sorrow. You tilted your head and furrowed your brow, but before you could ask anything, a voice spoke.

“Captain Rogers, Sergeant Barnes? Agent Romanoff requests your presence in the common room,” the computerized, feminine voice said.

“Thank you, F.R.I.D.A.Y. We’ll be right there. Could you let Nat know that Y/N is awake please?”

“Yes, Captain,” there was a pause before the voice came back and said, “Agent Romanoff requests that Y/N accompany you.”

Looking down, you noticed that someone had changed your clothes; you were wearing what you assumed were a pair of Nat’s sweatpants and a halter top that accommodated your wings. You didn’t have a bra, so you weren’t all that comfortable walking around, but you could cross your arms you guessed; at least you were clean.

“Alright then, let’s go see what she wants,” Bucky said, rising from his chair  and walking to the door, letting you fall in step beside him with Steve leading the way.

**Bucky’s POV**

Bucky sighed as they sat on one of the couches and waited for Nat to arrive. He’d known that HYDRA had messed with Y/N, but to know that they’d not only forced a chip into her head that caused her physical pain when used, but they’d fucked around with her DNA and added a  _ second _ mutation… Bucky was in disbelief. He sat, running his hands through his hair and over his face. He was frustrated, angry that more people had been hurt, that he couldn’t do anything about what happened. But now, Bucky understood a little of how Steve felt; the regret and heartache Steve felt when he looked at Bucky, Bucky felt a little of that looking at Y/N. Bucky swore to himself then, that he would help Y/N anyway he could. Not because he felt like what happened to her had been his fault, but because he understood where she was... probably more than anyone else. 

He felt a twinge in his chest when she smiled; Tomas was coming out of the hallway with Nat. The smile lit up her face, crinkling her eyes at the corners. The kid smiled in return and went straight to her.

“ Ei, garoto, você está bem?” (Hey kid, are you okay?”)

“Sim, estou bem. Steve e Bucky me mostraram e o computador me contou histórias até eu adormecer.” (Yes, I'm alright. Steve and Bucky showed me around and the computer told me stories till I fell asleep).  Y/N smiled softly as Tomas told her about his night with the Avengers.

“Tomas,” Natasha interrupted gently when the boy took a breath, “Você pode dizer a todos o que você acabou de dizer?” (Can you tell everyone else what you just told me?)

“Sobre os homens maus?” (about the bad men?) At Natasha’s nod, Tomas continued, “eles disseram que são anjos que estavam voltando para casa.” (They said they're angel was coming home).

Y/N froze, eyes looking to Bucky, heart racing as the other Avengers looked to her.

“W-what?!” she stuttered.


	5. Unexpected

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Swearing, panic attack, fear. I used google translate for the Portuguese in this chapter, so there’s likely more than a few typos...

All the color had drained from your face and you could feel your heartbeat race as you sat there dumbfounded. HYDRA thought you were going back? No, you’d  _ never _ go back to HYDRA, not willingly that at any rate. But what proof did the Avengers have of that? If you were in their position, you would never trust that someone you’d only just met wouldn’t betray you. How were you gonna get out of this? They’d never let you go, not if they were smart. With HYDRA thinking that you were coming back to them, the Avengers would be smart to keep you where they could see you at all times. You were headed for a cell for sure, and you wouldn’t even fight them; they were the heros, and they’d be right to do it.

Your gaze became unfocused and your breath began to come in short pants. What were you going to do? What if HYDRA  _ did  _ get you back somehow? Oh god, the chip. They could have been tracking you the whole time!

A dark blur crossed into your field of vision and something heavy came down on your shoulders, but as you flinched away, the weight slipped to clamp down around your upper arms, holding you still. Your body thrashed, seeking escape as your mind frantically looked for a way out. Without meaning to, you activate your chip, and shorted out the building’s electricity, plunging the room into darkness; not that it stayed that way for long. The weight around your arms moved again, now banding around your upper back, encasing your arms and pulling you towards the dark mass. You thrashed more, but as your body pressed against the mass, you stopped. It was solid, but sort of soft, and warm… and it smelled nice, calming even. It was expanding and contracting under your hands every few seconds, the movement calming you even more. You closed your eyes as your breathing started to slowly even out; your head drooping so that your forehead was resting against whatever it was holding you up. Slowly, you started to hear a faint, rhythmic thumping sound.  _ A heartbeat _ . Someone was holding you. 

 

**Bucky’s POV**

Bucky saw the moment Y/N checked out. He wasn't sure exactly what was going through her head, but she was  _ not _ okay. 

Trying to get her attention, he spoke softly, “Y/N, Y/N look at me.” But she didn't respond or move. Her eyes remained staring straight ahead and slightly down, though her gaze was now unfocused. Her breathing had sped up and her hands were shaking. He tried to speak to her a few more times, but she didn't react. 

Looking to Nat and Steve, Bucky motioned for them to clear the room, waiting until they had grabbed Tomas and were all out of sight before he moved closer to Y/N. She didn't seem to see him any better than she heard him. He moved directly in front of her just as her body started to shake all over; he set his hands on top of her shoulders. Turns out, that was a bad choice. She began to thrash, her body trying to escape him. The lights went out for a moment before coming back on. He assumed that she had accidentally tripped the power, but Tony Stark was not going to let a power surge effect his buildings; the lights were back on almost as soon as they had shut off. Bucky slid his hands down to wrap around her upper arms instead of her shoulders, trying to keep her still, but also still trying to get through to her. When she still didn't respond to his calls, Bucky began to worry that his metal hand may damage her arm if she continued to thrash. So he used his grip to pull her body closer to his and wrap his arms around her back, holding her to him. 

She stopped fighting quickly, and a few moments later her body began to relax. Her head rested against his chest and Bucky could feel tears begin to fall from her eyes down to dampen his shirt as Y/N regained control of her mind. 

“You're okay. It's all okay, Y/N. _You're_ _safe_ , nothing's happening right now. You just got freaked out. Everything's okay.” Bucky soothed her as her body shook, the adrenaline leaving her system. Her breathing began to even out, and her arms came out to push her body away from him. Bucky resisted for a moment, but released her. 

When she pulled back, her eyes were closed. She wiped at her cheeks before wrapping her arms around her middle. Opening her eyes, she looked right at Bucky. 

“Sorry,” she said softly. 

“Nothing to be sorry about,” Bucky assured with a small smile, “you should probably sit down. You're gonna crash soon.” He gestured to the sofa behind him. Bucky had his fair share of experience in the panic attack department; the shock and fear wore off, leaving you with a bone deep exhaustion. Not one that could lead to rest though, his brain would still run a million miles an hour for quite a while, but his body was always dead tired. Y/N nodded and complied, sitting on the couch, her back hunched and her arms still around herself. Bucky crouched in front of her for a second, catching her eye.

“You alright now?” She nodded, but as Bucky stood to move away, he saw her move, just one of her arms, like she almost reached out for him; seeking comfort. He didn't say anything, but Bucky sat near her on the couch, not too close, but close enough that she could reach him if she needed. Looking to the hallway, Bucky saw Nat’s head peak around the corner. He nodded to her, letting her know that it was safe to re-enter the room. 

Y/N avoided eye contact with everyone as they came back in, Nat was missing. She'd gone to collect Tomas who was sent to his room, just in case. 

“So what was that about?” Steve asked. Bucky winced. Steve didn't mean to, but he was gonna set Y/N off again if he made her talk too soon. But before Bucky could speak, Tony did. 

“ _ Jesus _ , Cap, give the girl a break. You've never had a panic attack? Have some tact,” Tony scoffed, sitting down in the armchair perpendicular to the couch Bucky and Y/N were on and pulling out his phone. Tony didn't look at either Y/N or Steve, but Bucky knew Y/N would have appreciated the save, and that Steve felt suitably chastised. Bucky caught Tony's eye and sent him a grateful nod. 

 

**Y/N’s POV**

You never thought you’d be thankful for Tony Stark. While you were thankful for the show of support, you chose to speak anyway. You had to let them know what was going on in your mind.

“I am  _ not _ going back there.” You spoke as evenly as you could, needing them to believe you. You'd already fallen apart. Hell you'd cried, onto the Winter Soldier’s shoulder no less. Still hazy on how you'd ended up in that position, you elected not to linger on that subject for the time being. 

Natasha and Tomas entered the room again just as you finished speaking, and Tomas walked straight across to you, pulling himself up to sit right next to you. 

You'd always been good with kids. They always warmed up to you fast. But no matter how many times it may have happened, you couldn't help but feel your heart swell just a bit more as Tomas wrapped his arms around your middle. He'd only met you the other day and he already trusted you. A smile grew on your face. 

“Me desculpe por isso. Acho que estou um pouco com medo.” (Sorry about that. Guess I’m a little afraid).

“Dos homens maus?” (Of the bad men?) You nodded and he spoke again, “Mas eles não vão te pegar. Os Vingadores nos manterão seguros.” (But they won't get you. The Avengers will keep us safe). He said it with such conviction you almost wanted to laugh. 

The Avengers would, most likely protect  _ him _ , but  _ you _ ? You were pretty sure that even if you asked them to, they wouldn’t want to help you. You were a liability and they couldn't trust you. 

“É verdade, garoto. Você está seguro conosco,” (That's right, kid. You're safe with us), Bucky replied. You looked over to him, surprised, but he just smiled and nodded. You looked over at Steve, who also nodded. Your eyes widened as every hero in the room nodded to your unspoken question. You swallowed hard and looked down. You hadn't done anything to deserve their help, yet they gave it to you. Taking a breath, you look back at Steve. 

“What can I do?” Steve smiled in response, Tony speaking up. 

“Well first we're gonna fix your head.” You shot him a quizzical look, to which he responded, “assuming you  _ want  _ that chip in your head, I can fix it. If you want it gone, we'll figure that out too.”

“You could take it out?” 

“Dunno, I'd have to see how it's all wired together and how it's connected to you, but as of right now, I don't wanna take that option off the table.” 

“I would appreciate anything you could do.”

“Well we can't do anything until Bruce gets here, but I called him about an hour ago so he should be here soon. Wanda, we may want your help too,” Tony gestured to Wanda and she nodded in agreement before he stood and moved towards the kitchen. He disappeared from view, but you heard him yell. 

“Damn it, Barton! If ya drink all the coffee, you gotta make a new pot!”

You hadn't been introduced to “Barton” yet, but you laughed at the unexpected domestic scene in the middle of your strange life. 


	6. Break

Bucky’s POV

“Oh fuck,” Bucky knew, he’d known after just a few words;. HYDRA had conditioned you too. HIs mind raced, trying to figure out, or possibly remember how to release you. He was sure there was a way, and even thought that he may have known it at one point. But before he could think of anything, Tony completed the trigger, and you confirmed your status.

“Shit,” Steve said, his eyes wide as he saw your face fall into the expressionless mask that he’d seen Bucky wear as the Winter Soldier. “Nat, get Tomas out of here. Anyone else not prepared for this situation, clear out and lock the door.”

Sam, Clint, and Bruce followed Nat and Tomas out the door. Tony moved to follow as well, but Bucky reached out to stop him, resting a hand on his shoulder.

“You were the person she answered; if this works anything like mine, she’s only gonna listen to you right now.” Tony’s eyes widened, but he nodded and stepped back into the room, joining Steve, Bucky, Wanda,  and Thor as they all stayed in their positions in the room, watching you.

“Ask her if she has a mission,” Steve suggested.

“Y/N,” Tony started, but you didn’t meet his eyes.

“Use her  _ title _ , Stark. She’s not Y/N right now,” Wanda said quietly. Her eyes were glowing a soft red, but Y/N’s eyes seemed unaffected; Wanda wasn’t trying to control her, just observing.

“What’s your mission, Angel?”

“ Ожидание активации (await activation)”, you replied in a monotone. 

“Activation for what?” Bucky asked quietly after translating for the others. When Tony posed the question though, you didn’t answer.

“She does not know. They didn’t tell her,” Wanda supplied.

“Okay,” Bucky sighed, “then does she know what her ‘activation’ is?” 

Wanda took a moment, but she shrugged in response. “If she does, it’s not conscious.”

“So what do we do then?” Thor asked.

…

The answer, apparently, was containment. You were soon in a high tech cell below the compound. The cell had been designed to attempt to contain the Hulk. You were sitting cross-legged on the floor, and hadn’t moved since Tony had instructed you to step into the cell over an hour ago. 

The team, having re-formed in Tony’s lab, were all watching you via a remote feed. Ideas were being thrown back and forth, but none seemed to stick. Bucky was sitting, watching the camera feed, only half listening to Bruce, who was digging through the files that the scientists in Wakanda had compiled when they had removed the triggers from Bucky’s mind. 

Wanda came up to stand  beside him. She didn’t seem to be paying much attention to the background discussion either. 

“You’re worried about her.”

“Hard not to be; I’ve been there,” Bucky said.

Wanda nodded and spoke again, “Have you tried talking to her?”

“She’s only gonna respond to Tony,” Bucky sighed. Yes, he’d like nothing more than to be able to talk to her; he’d never had anyone share his experiences, as horrific as they were, and he wanted to reach out to her. Maybe they could help each other.

“Why don’t you try? What can it hurt?” Wanda shrugged, nudging Bucky’s shoulder with her elbow, “I will keep an eye on you; if it looks like it’s going wrong, I’ll step in.”

Bucky looked up at her and nodded. He rose out of the chair and stepped aside so Wanda could take his seat, and quietly made his way out of the room.

…

Your eyes met Bucky’s as he entered the room, but you still made no move to get up; tracking his movements with your eyes. Bucky stood directly in your line of sight, but several feet back from the clear partition. He wasn’t sure what to say, and he couldn’t figure out what to do with his hands; he kept starting a sentence, and then stopping, and he fidgeted.  Eventually, he settled on shoving his hands in his pockets, and took a deep breath. 

“Angel,” he said, almost more of a question than a statement.

“солдат,”(Soldier) you responded immediately. It shocked him a little, his eyes darted to the camera aimed at your cell before speaking again.

“You know who I am?”

“Конечно, я делаю (Of course I do).”

“Do you know where you are?” This time, you didn’t respond, but broke eye contact for a moment,  looking to the camera then quickly back to Bucky.

“Yes, we’re being monitored. They’re not hostiles. Now answer the question.” Bucky slipped  into a more authoritative tone. It hadn’t been on purpose, but you responded to it.

“нет солдат. Я не знаю, где мы (No Soldier. I don’t know where we are).” You hadn’t sounded afraid or worried, although Bucky hadn’t expected you to.

What information were you given about your mission?”

“Мне было поручено свалиться и ждать активации (I was instructed to lay low and wait for activation).”

Bucky was about to speak again, when he heard a soft whisper.

“Ask her to answer in English. The others are listening, and Natasha is getting tired of translating,” Wanda said. It was an odd sensation, having her talk directly into his head, but he nodded slightly and did as she requested.

“Respond in English if you can, Angel.” When you nodded, Bucky said, “If your instructions were to ‘lay low’ then what were you doing in Rio?”

Your brow furrowed in confusion, and you blinked a few times. “I was in Rio?”

Bucky nodded. “Do you not remember? It was just a few days ago.”

Your face scrunched up further and you closed your eyes. A moment later, your hands came up to either side of your head and you began muttering. Bucky couldn’t hear exactly what you were saying, but it sounded like a mix of several languages, all expressing words of confusion, and then words of pain.

“I don’t remember,” you said softly as you doubled over, your knees pressed to the floor now, with your wings snapped tightly to your back, like they were ready for a fight.

When you cried out in pain, Bucky stepped up to the partition and called you.

“Angel?” His voice was slightly raised as he rested his hand against the clear wall.

“Don’t call me that!” you screamed as your pain increased.

“Wanda, lower the divider,” Bucky yelled over his shoulder to the camera. A few seconds passed and the wall disappeared and Bucky was able to cross to you.

“Y/N,” he said, cautiously reaching out his left hand to touch your shoulder as he knelt a little off to the side of you. Your body was shaking. You were on your knees, your forehead pressed to the floor, your hands covering your ears, and your wings still held tight to your back.

When Bucky’s metal fingers met your shoulder, you jerked violently, then went completely limp, collapsing on the floor. As gently as possible, Bucky maneuvered you to your back, slipping his bent knees beneath your upper back, careful not to disturb your wings. He pressed his flesh fingers to your pulse point, and breathed a sigh of relief when he felt your racing pulse.

“She’s alive, but she’s out cold. She needs to get to medical,” he called to the team; Steve appeared a moment later. Steve took you from Bucky, allowing Bucky to stand, but as soon as he was back on his feet, Bucky pulled you right back into his arms.

“I think you may have broken through, Buck,” Steve said as he held a door open wide enough for Bucky to carry you through without bumping your wings.

“I hope so, but I doubt it.”

“You reacted a little like that when I tried to get through to you in D.C. I think you helped quite a bit.” Bucky nodded.

Although Steve, Sam and Nat had explained what had happened in D.C. to Bucky a few times, most of the events were heavily fogged over in his mind.

When they reached the medical wing, Bucky laid you on your side on the bed, laying your wings out behind you; they drooped over the side of the bed and to the floor; Bucky made a note to talk to Tony about trying to find a bed that suited your wings better. Bruce stepped into the room and attached a heart monitor to your finger and stepped around your bed, brushing Bucky and Steve off to the side and eventually forcing them out of the room, but Bucky didn’t stay out for long.

…

Bucky spent the next ten hours in your med room, dozing in a chair by your bed. Bucky didn’t properly dream, but sort of floated through a hazy mix of his memories. He remembered D.C., or most of it anyway. He heard the moment Steve finally broke through his HYDRA conditioning, and he remembered pulling Steve from the river after they fell, but then his memories shifted.

It was a time before D.C., but not much before. He was standing on one side of a two-way mirror with another man next to him, on the other side of the mirror, a young woman was strapped to a table. There was a scientist circling the table, reading out of a notebook. The woman on the table was thrashing at first, but calmed as the scientist continued to speak.

“Вы понимаете свои инструкции солдат?” (You understand your instructions, soldier?) the man next to Bucky asked.

“Да командир,” (Yes, commander), Bucky heard himself respond. The Winter Soldier was in control, he could tell by the tone of his voice.

“ она может быть освобождена только вами. просто прикоснитесь к ней рукой” (She can only be released by you. Just touch her with the arm).

“И чип-командир? Будет ли это нарушать ее способности?”(And the chip commander? Will it impair her abilities?) the soldier asked.

“Это малоинтересно. Если это произойдет, убейте ее; она больше не будет полезна” (It is of little concern. If it does, kill her; she will no longer be useful), the man said flippantly, waving his hand as if brushing off the woman’s life. But the soldier hadn’t known the woman, and hadn’t had the capacity to care about what happened to her, so the conversation went no further.

On the other side of the mirror, the woman on the table screamed. She had been released from her restraints, and that was lucky, because as she screamed, huge wings burst from her back, ripping through her flesh and then laying heavily across the table and down to the floor. 

At that scream, Bucky woke with a start. Realizing that the scream he had heard in his head wasn’t real, his breathing had just begun to slow when he felt a squeeze to his hand.

Y/N POV

You woke with a pounding headache and cotton mouth. There was a steady beeping that you recognized as a heart monitor.  _ “Seriously? I’m in a med room again? What have I done this time?” _

You opened your eyes slowly, adjusting to the light in the room, and saw Bucky sitting just in front of you. His eyes were closed, and he seemed to be sleeping, but it wasn’t restful. His body was shaking slightly, and his breathing was rapid. Shifting slowly, you took stock of your body, other than overall muscle soreness, you seemed to be in one piece.

“Bucky?” you said, your voice a little scratchy. He didn’t seem to hear you so you reached over to touch his hand and called again, “Bucky?”

His eyes shot open and his body sat forward, he was breathing rapidly, but he was awake. You squeezed his hand lightly, trying to get his attention, maybe take his mind off what he’d seen.

“ _ Y/N? _ ”

“Yup. Are you okay?”

“I should be asking  _ you _ that. How long have you been awake?” Bucky asked, leaning forward to rest his metal arm on the bed by your head.

“Only a few seconds. You were having a nightmare I think. Wait-- What happened to  _ me _ ? Why do you need to ask if  _ I’m _ okay?”

“You don’t remember?” Bucky asked before shaking his head “Of course you wouldn’t. I never did. We were on the roof talking, do you remember that?”

Scrunching up your face and thinking for a moment, you nod slightly, “Yeah. I’d gone up there cause I was stressed out. You said you were afraid of falling, and I babbled about fears right?”

Bucky chuckled, “Yeah, yeah you did babble a little bit. Steve came up a little bit later to get us cause Tomas remembered something and the team wanted you to hear it.”

“Right. Steve burst through the door and we both jumped. You got in front of me… Did I wrap my wings around you?” you tilted your head, genuinely confused. The inside of your wings were your weakest spot, you almost never offered up your soft spot that easily. But in that moment you hadn’t thought, you’d just reacted. You had chosen to protect Bucky, even if it meant giving him the opportunity to hurt you.

“You did,” Bucky nodded, and if you weren’t mistaken, he’d blushed just a bit. 

Uncomfortable, you cleared your throat, “What happened after that?”

“Oh, uh, well we went to the conference room, and listened to what Tomas had heard. Turns out he heard your trigger words.”

“My trigger… oh  _ shit _ . HYDRA  _ conditioned _ me?” Your eyes widened; you’d had no idea. They’d conditioned you and you hadn’t known. Oh god, you hadn’t even warned the Avengers of that possibility, they had been in the dark, and Tomas...   “Did I… did I hurt anyone?”

Bucky shook his head quickly, “No. No you didn’t hurt anyone, Doll. You didn’t seem to have an active mission. We had you in containment for a bit, and I went to try and talk to you. You recognized me, or rather the Angel recognized the Winter Soldier. We talked for a bit, and I broke the conditioning, although I didn’t know that I had at the time.”

“Ok, ok, so you know how to break the conditioning?” you asked hopefully.

“Yeah, I remembered just now. It wasn’t a nightmare, it was a memory. HYDRA  _ told _ me how to.” You let out a deep breath and relaxed back against the bed, closing your eyes; tears leaking out the corners.

“Hey, you’re okay. Nothin’ happened, and I can get you out. Nothin’s gonna happen to you,” Bucky soothed, your hand was still on top of his right hand, so he reached up with his metal one and brushed his thumb against your cheek. You reached up with your free hand and held onto his metal wrist, holding it to your cheek.

“Please stay.”

“Not goin’ anywhere, sweetheart,” Bucky responded softy. He stayed with you as your body shook, a combination of adrenaline, frustration, and a deep fear. 

The door to your room cracked open and he saw Natasha’s head peak in. “Doll, Natasha is here. D’ya wanna talk to her?”

You nodded but kept your eyes closed, and kept Bucky’s metal fingers against your cheek, the cool metal helping you ground yourself.

“I’m just checking on you,” Natasha said softly, “and I wanted to let you know that Stark says the ‘upgrade-repair whatever’ he and Bruce got for your chip is ready.”

“Okay,” you sighed, opening your eyes and releasing Bucky’s wrist so you could meet Natasha’s eyes, “Thank you.”

“No problem. They said you can come to the lab whenever you’re ready” Natasha gave you a small smile as you stood up and exited. Because you exited the med room, you missed the interaction between Natasha and Bucky. She shot Bucky a cocky smile, looking between him and you and raising her eyebrows. Bucky blushed again, and moved to follow you out the door.


	7. Increasing Pressure

The chip upgrade was surprisingly uneventful, only taking a local anesthetic and maybe 20 minutes. 

_ “That’s the difference between HYDRA hacks and two of the greatest minds on Earth,”  _ you thought with a smile, gently rubbing the small scar that was all that the procedure had left behind. Bucky had stayed in the room with you during the surgery, you had asked him to because you worried about possibly slipping back into the Angel, and you’d been more than a little afraid. You’d never had a good experience in anything resembling a lab or hospital. And though you knew that the Avengers were unlikely to hurt you, your anxiety hadn’t lowered. Bucky’s presence had a calming effect on you. Whether that was because you knew that he could stop the Angel, or for some other reason, you didn’t know, nor did you really bother to wonder.

“Alright,” Tony said as he led you into the conference room where the rest of the team was already seated, “we’re gonna give it a couple days to make sure, but you should be in the clear now. Using the chip shouldn't cause any physical effects anymore. Plus, Banner and I added a few new functions for you.” He gave you a small wink as he pulled out a chair at the table, offering you a seat.

“What new functions?” you asked warily as you sat.

“Well, we updated some of the chip’s map databases, added communication functions, and gave you a sort of operating assistant,” Tony explained as he pushed your chair in before rounding the table.

“Operating assistant?” There was gonna be someone else messing with your head?

“A little like FRIDAY,” Bruce replied, “a program that can run operations for you so you don’t have to ask for every command. It can learn your needs and preferences so it can run things before you need to ask for them.”

“Your system’s named HERMES.”

“Okay, and communications?” Not that it didn’t sound potentially useful, but who exactly were you going to be communicating with? The majority of the time, you worked alone.

“Well for now, it’s hooked up to our comm system, so you can communicate with any of the team who have their comms on. Since the chip is already wired into parts of your brain, we could set up a basic communication system. You’ll be able to speak to us, and hear our responses. But in theory, you could also just  _ think _ at one of our comms and it would send the communication to us as well. We haven’t tested that though,” Bruce explained, he seemed thoughtful, contemplative.

You looked at Wanda Maximoff then. You knew she had the ability to read a person’s mind, and to speak into another’s mind as well. It sounded like your chip could do at least part of what she could. Interesting in theory, but it terrified you.

“If that becomes a possibility,” you said, keeping your voice calm to hopefully hide your feelings, “would you mind if I asked you for help?”

Wanda nodded, a small smile on her lips. She’d likely already known that you were uncomfortable with the possibility, but she hadn’t turned you down.

“Thank you,” you smiled back.

“Any other questions?” Tony asked, he was standing at the head of the table now. 

You shook your head, but added, “I may have some later though.”

Tony nodded with a smile, “Okay then, on to the meeting.” Tony stepped back and Steve stood up, moving to take Tony’s place.

The Avengers had a brief meeting about an upcoming operation. You were a little surprised at how much they were willing to discuss in front of you, but they also asked your opinion. You’d been in a HYDRA base much more recently than any of them had, and therefore had the most up-to-date intel they could get; you readily gave what you had.

“I wouldn’t come in that door,” you motioned to the side entrance that Steve had planned to smash through, “if this is similar to the last base I was in, that door has a reinforced jamb, extended deadbolt, and an alarm trip wire. Not only will it take more force to bust it open, but it’ll alert the whole base.”

“Well we were planning on cutting off the alarm anyway,” Steve nodded.

“The alarm for the exterior doors is separate from the building alarm. There’s another separate one for interior doors. They’ve got segregated alarm systems all over the building. You’d have to make sure you cut off  _ all _ of them.”

Steve sat back with his arms crossed over his chest and looked over to Tony who was leaning on the table listening attentively.

“If I were to suggest an entry point,” you shrugged, “I’d pick one of these.” You indicated two doors; one on the roof, and one leading into a basement entrance. “Neither of these entrances are used all that frequently. When they  _ are _ used, it’s by guards, not scientists. The guards are more likely to leave alarms unset, and doors unlocked… they get cocky.”

“That basement one isn’t on the schematics we’ve got,” Natasha pointed out, “where does it lead?”

“Best guess? Into a storage area. They used to use the basements for the labs, but now they tend to excavate below the marked basements for the labs. There’ll be a trapdoor or hidden elevator shaft somewhere in the basement that goes down to the labs.”

“FRIDAY, are you getting all this?” Tony asked.

“Yes, boss.” The AI responded.

A male voice in your ear then spoke. It was a calm, smooth baritone with a little bit of an accent that you couldn’t place. “Would you like me to transmit your mental blueprints to FRIDAY’s system?”

You jumped, startled by the voice. You’d already forgotten the “operating assistant” Tony and Bruce had given you.

“Uh, yes. Thank you HERMES.” You felt awkward responding to a voice that no one else had heard.

“Uploading images,” FRIDAY said a moment later. “Render complete.”

Then images of the HYDRA bases you’d been in were washing up on the wall in front of you. The images then collated and meshed together to fit the building schematics that the Avengers had, adjusting and editing them.

“Well damn… Good thing we asked.” The route Steve had planned would have gone past a guard house, and tripped at least 4 different alarms.

You spent the rest of the day in the meeting room, helping to draw new maps, answering questions, and planning routes though the building. The team was going to fly out to the base’s location tomorrow morning, so it was important to get the information right. You wouldn’t be going with them. They’d only just met you after all, not to mention the fact that you still had HYDRA conditioned trigger words. It would take a while to get those cleared out. Though Bucky knew how to break them, it was safer for you to stay put.

And you weren’t an Avenger. You were just a HYDRA escapee that they had taken in and helped out. They couldn’t rely on you, and probably didn’t really need your help. You gave them information that was helpful (you hoped) but beyond that, you weren’t involved.

But the team wasn’t leaving you all alone. Clint and Bruce were both staying behind too, Bruce to monitor your chip, and try and work out the triggers, and Clint because he was nosy, and apparently wanted to “hang out” with you. You’d never had a real “friend” before, so you weren’t completely sure how that worked, but you felt comfortable with Clint. Not quite the same comfortable you felt with Bucky, but similar in some ways; Clint was funny, and he didn’t seem put off by the wings, or the triggers. You worried you might hurt him, but Clint had basically laughed in your face when you mentioned that.

“Kid, I fought a city full of aliens, and robots with a bow and arrow. I think I can handle you. Not to mention, Banner is here with me.” The three of you were sitting in a large living room, Clint and you each sprawled on your own sofa, Bruce in an armchair, glasses on his nose and a large book in his hand. Clint was twirling an arrow in his fingers absentmindedly.

“Don’t count on the ‘Other Guy’, Clint. He’s been pretty touch and go lately.” Bruce said, looking up from his book. He seemed genuinely uncomfortable, but Clint waved him off. 

“You worry too much. He’ll come out if we really need him.” 

“I’m pretty sure Thanos counted as a “really need him” situation,” Bruce muttered, looking back down at his book, sheepishly.

“Whatever, it all worked out didn’t it?”

Bruce and Clint argued back and forth for a while, you got more and more confused as they went. You knew a bit about a few of the instances they mentioned, but honestly, you weren’t really listening. Their voices became background noise and you felt yourself falling asleep. 

Tomas had been sent to stay with a family of “enhanced-friendly” ex-SHIELD agents earlier that night. You were sad to see him leave, but glad that he’d be somewhere safe. He hugged you before he got in the car with the agents. Natasha had assured you that you could contact him again whenever you liked and that he would be able to contact you if he ever need you. You’d waved to Tomas as the car drove away, he seemed to be okay, you just hoped it would last.

You stretched out on the couch, trying to keep your eyes open, but losing the fight. As you drifted off, you hoped the rest of the team was doing ok, and that the information you’d given them had been helpful. You wondered when they’d be back.

…

Waking up, none of those thoughts remained. You jolted awake, a klaxon sounding, and red lights flashing. 

“What the  _ fuck _ is going on?!” you asked aloud. No one was around to answer.

“The compound is under attack, Mistress,” HERMES answered as calmly as before.

“Shiiiiiit. Where are Clint and Bruce?” you asked the AI.

“Mr. Barton and Dr. Banner are currently in the armory, Miss.” FRIDAY answered.

“How the hell do I get to the armory?” You were extremely glad that Tomas wasn’t in the compound anymore. This was exactly the kind of shit he didn’t need to be around. 

FRIDAY and HERMES guided you to the armory and you reached it just in time to greet some unwanted guests.

Three hydra agents hurtled around the corner in front of you.

_ ‘Well balls,” _ you thought,  _ “don’t supposed there’s anyway to keep them from triggering me is there?” _

You hadn’t expected a response, but HERMES spoke in your head, “I can play white noise and overwhelm your auditory pathways. That could keep you from perceiving the trigger words, Mistress.”

_ “Do it,” _ you thought in response. Static began to fill your ears not a moment later. You saw the goons’ mouths open, but you couldn’t hear their words.  _ “Perfect.” _

Time passed, but it was hard to keep track without any auditory input. You fought the three HYDRA insurgents in front of you. You hadn’t brought your wings out, and didn’t plan to; the hallway was too cramped and they would have quickly become a hindrance. You had no weapons, but you were trained, better trained than the HYDRA idiots as it turned out. You had stolen all of their weapons in quick succession and knocked all but the last one out cold before Clint appeared in front of you. He was trying to talk, but you couldn’t hear him.

“HERMES, kill the static,” you said aloud to your AI, then to Clint you said, “Sorry, I didn’t want to take any chances with the triggers.”

“So you had static in your ears?” You nodded. “Good call. Banner is in the lab, I think we got everyone, but let’s regroup and double check.” Clint nocked an arrow and started jogging down the hall, you followed close behind.

Upon reaching the lab, Bruce sealed the doors behind you. He had multiple screens open and was typing away on a keyboard. Clint crossed to him and began typing away on a second keyboard.

“HERMES, can you scan the building for human, and enhanced human heat signatures?” you asked. Your chip had been able to do so before, but you were unsure if it could now.

A building schematic popped into your field of vision with three dots labeled in the lab, and at least 10 more throughout the compound. There were 5 in the garage, two on the roof and three on the grounds directly outside.

“FRIDAY, could you close off access from the garage and roof, as well as the yard?” you asked the building AI. 

“On it, Miss,” she responded. You reported the heat signatures that HERMES had shown you to Clint and Bruce.

“So what do we do now?” you asked, “do we attack them, or wait for help?”

“If there’s only ten of them, we could take them out,” Clint assured, “what weapons are you comfortable with?”

“Pretty much anything. HYDRA was very comprehensive in that area.” 

“I’m working on getting the others up on comms,” Bruce said, “I’ll stay back here.”

“Probably a good call. The ‘Big Guy’ doesn’t discriminate between bad guys and people’s stuff,” Clint huffed as he pulled a pair of short swords and a gun out and laid them on the table. “This is what I grabbed, good?”

You grabbed the swords and spun them in your hands, a smile spread over your face. “Oh yeah, I’m good. Lets clean house.”


	8. After Effects

**Summary:** Reader is a HYDRA experiment (like the Maximoffs, but not voluntary) who grows wings (like Angel from X-Men). She escapes, and is now trying to rescue and prevent further kidnappings and experiments. 

**Word Count: 2047 (current)**

**Warnings** : 

**A/N:**

 

The fight wasn’t as bad as some you’d been in before, but it was bloody. At least it was for you. You’d made sure to have HERMES fill your head with static again, not wanting to take any chances of being “activated” again without Bucky around. As a result, you missed quite a few warnings from Clint about approaching goons; you were sporting more wounds than you anticipated. 

You were out on the lawn, having chased a fleeing foe away from the building. You’d spotted the runner from the roof, so your wings were out from your swooping descent, but they were the only part of your body that wasn’t bleeding, though they did hurt quite a bit.  When Clint came running up to you, you had the last goon laying at your feet, unconscious and tied up to be questioned later. You stood, panting over the soldier, and nearly jumped out of your skin when Clint touched your back, where your wings grew from your body. There was a burning, stinging pain at the touch, but you ignored it as best you could, whirling around with your weapon at the ready.

Clint didn’t flinch, but spoke, his lips moving, though your couldn’t hear him. 

“Kill the static please, HERMES,” you said aloud as an explanation to Clint. 

“That’s all of them,” Clint repeated, not as out of breath as you. “Bruce got in contact with the others too. Their mission was a bust, it was probably a set up to get most of us away from the compound. They’re on their way back.”

You nodded. “Got anywhere to keep this fucker? I assume we’ve got questions to ask.”

“There’s some cells in the basement. We’ll drag him down there,” Clint crossed to the still unconscious goon, and was about to pick him up when he got a good look at you. “Jesus, Y/N, you’re bleeding from everywhere!”

You grimaced. With the exception of the pain in your back, you hadn’t felt most of your wounds until Clint pointed them out. The clothes you were wearing weren’t a particularly tough material, certainly not meant to resist bullets or blades. There were shallow, and not so shallow gashes all over your body aside from your wings. They would have been battered too had you not kept them hidden until the last few moments. 

Exhaustion came on the heels of the stinging, pulsing pain from your many wounds. Your clothes were slashed, and covered in drying blood that pulled at your still fresh wounds as you moved. 

“Well that explains why I feel so shitty,” you grumbled, wincing as you pulled your wings in, hiding them from sight, before moving to help Clint drag the bad guy to his cell. 

Bruce met you at the cells, and did a double take when he saw you. You were sure that you looked like a hot mess. You were beginning to wonder if your should just ask Tony if you could live in medical. You were all but dragged into said medical wing; Clint hovering just behind you, as if he thought he’d have to herd you in the right direction.

And of course, that’s where you were when the rest of the team returned. Bucky was the first through the doors.

“How ya doin’? Clint said you fought well,” he said, stopping just inside the door and stepping to the side to lean back against the wall. 

“I’m good. I couldn’t hear him warning me about some of the attacks, so I got hit a few times,” you replied while Bruce was applying a bandage to a wound on your ribs.

Bucky looked confused, so you explained that HERMES had basically deafened you to prevent anyone from triggering you. 

“That was a great idea, Doll. Probably saved your ass.”

“Not to mention Clint and Bruce,” you said, looking away, “I was worried I’d go Angel on them and hurt them.”

Bruce, who was still bandaging you, patted your shoulder consolingly. “We would have been okay, Y/N.”

“It looks like you went a couple rounds with a weed whacker,” said Tony as he entered the lab.

“I think that would have done less damage,” you grumbled, wincing as Bruce applied pressure to another wound.

“But you handled those punks. They look far worse than you. You did fine,” Bucky said. It sounded suspiciously like he was trying to make you feel better. You gave him a small smile.

“Alright,” Bruce said, stepping back to look you over. Your clothes hadn’t been salvageable, so they’d been removed. You were sitting in a pair of shorts and a specially fitted sports bra that allowed you to release your wings. You’d been shocked at how little time it had taken for Tony to have several of them made and brought to the compound. And not only the bras, but several shirts and even a sweater. “I think that’s everything, let’s check your wings though.”

“I didn’t have them out until the last few minutes,” you argued.

“I still wanna check them.” Bruce crossed his arms and stood firm. 

Sighing, you sat forward on the bed, leaning your elbows on your knees, and let your wings stretch out. You let your eyes slide shut, even though you felt a fairly intense burning sensation, it was a relief to not have to focus on keeping them hidden.

“Am I okay to touch them?” Bruce asked. When you nodded, he began to gently prod and maneuver them.

 

**Bucky’s POV**

_ “She looks so much more relaxed when her wings are out. I wonder if it hurts her to conceal them,” _ Bucky thought as he looked at her face. Bruce didn’t find any bleeding, but when he touched a part of her wing around where it grew from her back, she gasped.

“You okay?” Bucky asked. He’d moved closer to her after she gasped. He’d had been right by the door, but after her pain filled gasp, he was suddenly standing beside her bed. He wasn’t sure why, its wasn’t like he didn’t trust Bruce. Maybe he worried that pain would set off the Angel? When he looked down and saw Y/N’s hands clenched into fists where they rested in her thighs, he picked them up and gently pried them open so he could wrap her fingers around his hands. 

That movement must have startled Y/N, because her head jerked up, nervously eyeing Bucky as if, in that moment she’d forgotten where she was, and she expected to be hurt. Bucky certainly understood, though his chest hurt thinking about her being hurt. He gave her another small smile, and gently squeezed her hands. He saw her moment of fear pass, and Y/N squeezed his hands in return even as she winced in pain.

Bruce examined the area of her wing more closely, which involved more pain, and thus more winces from Y/N. Her breathing was a little shaky by the time Bruce finished. 

“Looks like a torn ligament. I’ll have to see a scan to know for sure though. Can we get ahold of Helen?” Bruce asked, looking to Tony. 

“FRIDAY?” Tony called.

“Dr. Cho will be here tomorrow,” FRIDAY replied. 

“Great. Now, Y/N, try asking HERMES what’s up.”

“Would he be able to tell?” Y/N asked.

“He’s wired into your brain, I can’t imagine there’s much about you he doesn’t know,” Tony shrugged.

According to Y/N, who was the only one who could hear HERMES, the AI in her head confirmed Bruce’s conclusion.

“Huh, well that’s handy. Thank you,” Y/N said, looking up at Tony and Bruce who had come to stand in front of her.

“Well, Helen may say something else, but until she gets here, it’d be best if you kept your wings out to avoid pulling anything else.” Bruce said, as he pulled a tube of topical analgesic from a drawer. “I’m going to put some of this on and around the area, it will numb it a little. You’ll have to reapply in a few hours though. Also, remember that just because it doesn’t hurt, doesn’t mean you can go flying. Okay?”

“Got it,” Y/N grumbled. Bucky stifled a laugh as he released her right hand so that she could take the tube from Bruce, after he applied some of the product to her wing stalk. 

“Now, I’d suggest resting. I can give you some medication to take if the pain gets to be too much, but it will make you drowsy. You should try and get some sleep,” Bruce said as he dug around in another drawer, probably looking for the other pain meds.

“Ok. Thank you, Bruce,” Y/N said as she pushed herself off the bed to stand. She winced when, without thinking, she pulled her wings tight, close to her body. “Right,  _ don’t _ move the wings. Guess they’re dragging for today.” Bucky  _ had _ noticed that she usually kept the tips of her wings just off the ground when she walked. He wondered why that was, but that wasn’t the time to ask. 

“Need help?” Bucky asked, not sure if there was anything he  _ could _ do to help, but he offered anyway.

Y/N gave him a tight smile and shook her head. “Not really. At least not right now. I guess I’ll just head to bed.” But she paused before leaving the room. “Thank you though. I appreciate it, Bucky.” The small smile she gave him had his stomach in knots. She turned and started to walk down the hallway, her wings trailing behind her, but she stopped after just a few steps.

**Y/N’s POV**

“Actually,”  you said, almost laughing and you came to a realization, “I don’t know where I’m going.” You’d only been at the compound for a few days, and so far, you hadn’t actually slept anywhere but the medical wing.

It took Bucky a second, but he seemed to understand what you were saying and smiled as he walked up to you. “This way, Doll.” He rested his hand on your shoulder for a moment as he passed you, squeezing lightly.

He led you to the room Tony had designated for you, and gave you the short run down of where you were in the compound, and how to get where you needed to from your room.

“I’m a few rooms down that way. If you need anything, FRIDAY is only a call away, and she’s good at getting ahold of any of us.” Bucky said running the fingers of his right hand through his hair.

“Thank you, Bucky. I’d like to say that I should be fine from here. But given my track record, that may be a lie,” you gave him a smile, which he returned before bidding you goodnight and leaving you alone.

The bed was soft, if a little bit too small to accommodate your wings, and the room temperature was perfect. You fell asleep quickly, and for a while, it was calm. 

Of course, that didn’t last.

Various memories assaulted you, sometimes staying true to reality, sometimes warping to something even more terrifying. Though you had  _ physically  _ escaped HYDRA, the memories were carved into your psyche. It wasn’t every night, frequently, you could go weeks without nightmares, but when they came on, they came on  _ hard _ . 

Anything was fair game. Any mission. Any experiment. Every single moment of pain or fear was apt to come back to you, with a vengeance, when you were at your most vulnerable. You used to wonder why the nightmares would pick the days they did, but no matter how much time you spent wondering, you couldn’t find what could be triggering them. Not that it mattered. 

The memories of the pain you’d experienced at HYDRA, caused you to yell out. You thrashed and kicked out as you relieved your past. Normally, there was no one around to be awoken by your screams, however, the Avengers compound was not as soundproof as anyone had thought. 

You were still deep in the throes of one such nightmare when your door opened. You didn’t wake up, not even when someone laid their hand on your forehead, nor when they gently shook your shoulder.


End file.
